Where's the best European beach you've ever been on and why?

Yea, but when you turn around from the sea you're faces with... tramore!

Apart from the hurdy gurdy aspect of the seafront ( far too common for a sophisticate like yourself :D ) Tramore is quite a pretty town with decent restaurants & fine pubs.
 
Apart from the hurdy gurdy aspect of the seafront ( far too common for a sophisticate like yourself :D ) Tramore is quite a pretty town with decent restaurants & fine pubs.
I spent many a summers day in Tramore as a nipper on the hurdy gurdy's and I've brought the kids plenty of times as well. Great fun was had by all. The rubbish food in the pubs and restaurants everywhere along the sea front is the main problem in Tramore (that and the fact that the Splash World place is utterly mankey; there's a carpet of plasters and pubic hair in the changing rooms).
My point is it's not the French Riviera and it’s not even Lahinch or Inchydoney or Banna (Kerry) or even Sandymount.
 
Deiseblue is right. Waterford was a stomping ground for me in the 1970s and the nearby Tramore was a great spot. The Hi-B, the Majestic, the Doneraile Walk, the Beach, what was the name of the ballroom where we listened to Dickie, the Royal, the Big 8, the Dixies, the Táin performed by Horslips, the Freshmen, the memories are flooding back.

Is the diving board still in Newtown Cove? Many's the night after a few large bottles I dived into the deep water even in winter. The Metal Man where young females hopped around it on one leg ensuring they would be married within the year. I'm not forgetting nearby Annestown either. Yes, and Woodstown and while I'm at it Passage East complete with its New Geneva Barracks. The history, the culture, the craic. Perhaps we are all becoming too sophisticated now?

I think the country's first discotheque (please note not 'disco') was run there by a guy called Mike Kent.

And the fishing off the beach in Tramore. I remember the foxes in the sand-dunes behind. Down the road you have/had Dunmore East. Another gem of the south east. Katie Reilly's kitchen was another great pub and probably one of the first super-pubs. What about Rockets? Is the bar still there.

I think I have just launched another sales brochure for the sunny south east. I'm approaching my 60th - I think I'll head down Memory Lane and relive the 70s again.
 
I spent many a summers day in Tramore as a nipper on the hurdy gurdy's and I've brought the kids plenty of times as well. Great fun was had by all. The rubbish food in the pubs and restaurants everywhere along the sea front is the main problem in Tramore (that and the fact that the Splash World place is utterly mankey; there's a carpet of plasters and pubic hair in the changing rooms).
My point is it's not the French Riviera and it’s not even Lahinch or Inchydoney or Banna (Kerry) or even Sandymount.

Last time I checked there were no pubs or restaurants along the seafront in Tramore - perhaps your memory is playing tricks on you !

One of Ireland's best chippers is on the seafront - Dooleys & there are a number of excellent cafes down by the surf club.

All this is however off topic - the beach itself is definitely one of the finest I've been on - a view shared by other posters !
 
Leper , I think the Ballroom in question was the Atlantic where Roy Orbison & Thin Lizzy played back in the day.

I always remember the boats landing on the beach & selling the freshly caught mackerel & the yearly soccer competition on the beach - fiercely fought.

Rockets is still going - best colcannon & ribs in Ireland.

I never dared go off the diving board in Newtown Cove , settled for jumping off the pier - perhaps a few large bottles would have settled my nerves !

Annestown was where we went to harvest periwinkles & Dunmore was where we camped on the flat rocks before going drinking in the Strand & the Butcher Powers & then off to the disco in the Haven .

Your post brought back great memories - thanks.
 
Last time I checked there were no pubs or restaurants along the seafront in Tramore - perhaps your memory is playing tricks on you !

One of Ireland's best chippers is on the seafront - Dooleys & there are a number of excellent cafes down by the surf club.

All this is however off topic - the beach itself is definitely one of the finest I've been on - a view shared by other posters !
Sorry, I meant the area across the road from the hurdy gurdy's, where the arcades are and up along that road. There's afew pubs and a few restaurants further back but none of them are any good. I wouldn't describe the Cafes I've been in as excellent (though it's a year or two since I was there).

The beach is very good, top notch, maybe top 5 in the country, maybe, but not world class.
Dunmore East; great spot.
 
Sorry, I meant the area across the road from the hurdy gurdy's, where the arcades are and up along that road. There's afew pubs and a few restaurants further back but none of them are any good. I wouldn't describe the Cafes I've been in as excellent (though it's a year or two since I was there).

The beach is very good, top notch, maybe top 5 in the country, maybe, but not world class.
Dunmore East; great spot.

That's the problem of not knowing the area , Rockets , Alfie Hales , the Vic & Powers are great pubs - the Esquire & Rockets are renowned for their food & attract many diners both locals & from the fine metropolis down the road & from discerning visitors !

The beach is indeed top notch as evidenced by the many kudos from other posters and is excellent for swimming & surfing & to my mind is definitely the best in Ireland - but everyone to their own.
 
I find it hard to name the best 'European' beach I've been on, but I do remember spending a scorching sunny week years ago in Donegal (honest). Silver Strand (Trabane) beach at Malin Beg near Glencolumbkille was paradise that week!!

Ireland as beautiful as any, if only we got the weather
 
Ireland as beautiful as any, if only we got the weather

If only . . . famous words in Ireland. I know Glencolmcille also, another great spot, magnificent beach with a couple of hundred steps down to it.

Tramore Beach = Definitely top notch, no question about it. I think that if you walk down it for quite a bit you will come to a huge red brick house (I think Gilbert O'Sullivan was in the course of purchasing it once from a Mrs Klem).

There was a fairly good pitch and putt course also just off the beach which was an attraction. I think it was built on though which was a mistake.

If you google "Seahorse Tramore Bay" you will learn of the disaster of the Seahorse ship ferrying troops from England to relieve the garrisson in Cork. Very sad at the loss of life, but every bit as gripping as the story of the Titanic later. Subsequently, the Metal Man was placed on the headland as a warning to shipping.
 
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